Indians to Sign College Righty Nakamura

Nakamura wasn’t a high-profile draft prospect, so I headed over to Draft Reports to get the scoop on him. Nakamura has got a big frame at 195 cm, 89kg (6’5, 195lbs), and throws from a three-quarter delivery. His heater tops out on the gun at 149 km/h (92mph), but he mostly sits at about 140 km/h (86 mph) with both his fastball and slider. He also has a curve, forkball, and shuuto. Looking at his stats, he shown an ability to strike his college competition out, but walks have been an issue.

Sponichi says that the Indians’ goal is to get him in shape in Rookie Ball, and then give him a look at Single-A after a couple of months. An official contract is expected in November.

I happened to see him once by complete random chance, but basically Chuo’s pitching duties have mostly been shared by (now 3rd-years) Hirokazu Sawamura and Yuuhi Yamasaki these last two years. I saw Yamasaki throw 6.2 perfect innings a few weeks back… NEXT year is going to be the insane draft year for college pitchers, I’m pretty sure (what with the Chuo aces, Toyo ace Kanuma, Waseda’s Saitoh and Ohishi, maybe Hosei’s Kagami, etc).

Then again, I know there has to be more to scouting these guys than just seeing them play in league games and tournaments. It’s just… if a guy isn’t good enough to be playing in the games, how is he going to be good enough to go pro? That’s the part I don’t get.

The stats from Draft Reports indicate that he played for the ni-bu team until the autumn of his third year, where he had a pretty high walk rate. That may explain why he didn’t get many innings.

“It’s just… if a guy isn’t good enough to be playing in the games, how is he going to be good enough to go pro?”

College coaches are going to use the guys that give them the best chance to win. Professional teams, particularly MLB teams, and are going to get guys that they think they can develop. So I would guess that the Indians like Nakamura’s frame and velocity, and think there’s enough of a chance that he’ll improve under their direction.

“NEXT year is going to be the insane draft year for college pitchers, I’m pretty sure (what with the Chuo aces, Toyo ace Kanuma, Waseda’s Saitoh and Ohishi, maybe Hosei’s Kagami, etc).”

Ni-bu actually refers to when Chuo was a 2nd-tier team, not to a separate minor-league squad. The Tohto League has 4 levels and relegation, and Chuo didn’t make it back into the 1st-tier until fall 2008.

So that means those stats on Draftrepo, he was pitching for the actual team, just in a lower league, and was still walking all those guys.